Thank God It's Monday®! Blog

When They’re Not Your Direct Report… But They Are Your Problem

Have you ever worked with someone who isn’t your direct report but they are still absolutely your problem?

They disrupt meetings, derail progress, and damage morale but because they’re not officially yours people freeze. They stay silent.

Here’s the truth. Influence has nothing to do with position. It has everything to do with taking responsibility.

A healthy high performance culture doesn’t tolerate poor behavior, and it certainly doesn’t tolerate silence about it. You don’t need a title to step up. You need clarity about what you stand for and the courage to protect the team dynamic.

So start by addressing the behavior, not the person, asking questions instead of making accusations, framing it as support for the mission, not a personal critique.

Because when one person is disruptive and nobody says anything, that’s how culture erodes fast. So get involved. Speak up. Ask the disruptor for what you need. Don’t sit by as an observer or you become a part of the problem.

– Roxanne Emmerich

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No stories, please

Business is filled with obstacles that we need to overcome and get through. The only thing that really works is an inner drive with complete commitment along with innovation and an unstoppable approach.

Obstacles will happen every day. When they see an obstacle, many people begin to craft their story of why the obstacle is the reason they can’t get the result. “Well, I was going to accomplish this, but then this happened, so I couldn’t accomplish it.”

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When the Answer is Always “Now”

 

How could I create a ‘wow’ experience here?

What if you thought about every encounter with the customer as a chance to create a “wow” encounter?

Let’s face it, you’re either going to have a “wow” encounter or an un wow one. It’s never a neutral event. So we need to constantly ask ourselves, “How could I create a ‘wow’ experience here?”

Now as we’re thinking about “wow” experiences, we can’t forget the internal customers—you know, those who are working within our organization and who need to support those outside of our organization (AKA the customer). These internal customers need to have “wow” experiences as well.

So whether you’re an internal customer service person or an external customer service person, think about the “wow” encounter and never forget what Guy Kawasaki talked about, “No matter when your supervisor asks for something, the answer is always ‘now.’”

When they’re asking for something to be done, make sure to prioritize what they need because they probably have an outcome and a customer experience that they need to create. AND them having to wait means that they cannot create that “wow” experience for their customer!

Always approach every encounter with every person that you work with—including your customers—as the potential to create a “Wow, That was amazing!” type of experience.

What if you started approaching it that way today?

– Roxanne Emmerich

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We Are Either Doing THIS or THAT All the Time

Maya Angelou said: “They will never remember what you told them or what you did. But they will always remember how you made them feel.”

Every moment, we have a chance to have encounters with our clients, with our co-workers, with their children in a way that makes them feel better about themselves.

How we feel about ourselves impacts how we make others feel about themselves.

How we bring joy into the room matters because we’re either breathing life into life or sucking it out. We are never a neutral event.

We have a choice. We can make sure other people feel better because we choose to bring joy to the conversation, talking about possibilities as opposed to what’s wrong, moving things through quickly, and celebrating the successes along the way.

Listen, it’s easy to find things that are wrong. I’m very capable of doing it.

I am not talking from the mountain here as someone who is capable of always being in this place, but I do know that my life goes better and that I make other people’s lives better when I sincerely make an attempt to breathe life into life, to bring joy in my heart, and to make sure that I’m thinking about bringing joy into their heart at the same time.

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Stop Undercommunicating

Most people don’t communicate enough. They don’t tell you where things are at with that project. They don’t tell you what’s going on with different pieces. They don’t tell you, “Hey, I’m behind on something.”

Be an over-communicator. In other words, tell everybody that’s impacted by anything you’re doing what’s going on so that they know what’s going on. Do it in effective ways. Don’t bomb their email account with a whole bunch of different emails, but, instead, say, “Hey, guys, I’m way ahead on this. I’m behind on these six things. Here’s what I’m doing about these pieces. Here’s how this could impact this particular piece. Here’s how I’m communicating to them.”

When you overcommunicate, you show to other team members that you care and that you are on it, on it, and you want to be that person that’s perceived as being on it. So we know you’re going to get behind. We know you’ll make mistakes. Overcommunicate the status of where you’re at, and people will go home at night in a restful state, knowing that there will be no surprises.

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